


Is Minerva McGonagall an Introvert? Or, What Does Minerva McGonagall do on a rainy day?

by Shlomo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Essays, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-09-21
Packaged: 2017-12-27 06:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/975288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shlomo/pseuds/Shlomo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a meta essay written for the prompt "rainy days" for the LJ community Womensverse. I hope you like it.</p>
<p>It was inspired by a graphic, which has been making the rounds on facebook/tumblr lately, which matches up Harry Potter characters to the Myers-Briggs character types. This chart labeled Minerva McGonagall an extrovert, and this essay is a meditation on that decision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Is Minerva McGonagall an Introvert? Or, What Does Minerva McGonagall do on a rainy day?

An image, which links Harry Potter characters to Myers-Briggs personality types, has been making the rounds all over my facebook newsfeed recently. I was thrilled to have the same Myers-Briggs personality type (an ENFP) as Ron Weasley, whom I did closely identify with throughout the series. Of course I hit “share” almost instantly, sharing the image on my facebook wall. Eventually, a friend of mine commented that she was confused why Minerva McGonagall was categorized as an Extrovert – an ESTJ, to be exact.

This got me thinking. 

Is Minerva McGonagall an introvert? Is she an extrovert? 

Side-stepping the obvious problem of easily setting up a dichotomy between “extrovert” and “introvert” – as well as the secondary problem that identities are not fixed, but rather are constantly on the move – in this short piece, I hope to meditate on McGonagall’s extroversion by answering the question: What would Minerva McGonagall do on a rainy Saturday at Hogwarts?

It is plausible that she would spend a good part of the day reading, writing, grading papers, and creating lesson plans -- all relatively solitary activities. But simply because someone is in a career path that necessitates lots of independent work doesn’t necessarily make him or her an introvert. As a graduate student who considers myself an extrovert, I know firsthand that extroverted individuals can and do survive in spaces and careers traditionally held by introverts. 

The question that seems more relative to me is, what would Minerva McGonagall do after putting in some grueling hours of solitary work? One possibility is that she would indeed spend the rest of that rainy day alone. Maybe she reads murder mysteries while eating biscuits out of a tin, maybe she arranges thistles into ugly arrangements around hats, maybe she heads off to the library to check out some recently acquired books. 

I don’t actually agree with that reading of her character, but I understand it. 

I always have viewed Minerva McGonagall as inherently a very social person. We first meet her sitting, as a cat, waiting for Dumbledore. She doesn't attend one of the many parties held on the day Harry Potter Lived, she waits for Dumbledore. She waits for Dumbledore because she feels she desperately needs to talk to him, and she wants to talk to him now, dammit! She doesn't want to wait, she doesn't want to write a letter, she wants to be around Dumbledore and to talk to him, face-to-face, about Harry, the Order, and the Demise of the Dark Lord. When Harry’s name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, Minerva instantly swoops over to Dumbledore and whispers in his ear intently. She feels compelled to talk to him about the situation immediately.

These two examples illustrate something I do see in Minerva’s character: she’s choosey about who she surrounds herself with. She is not particularly interested in going to a party celebrating the death of the Dark Lord with people who are not well-informed about what is going on, she wants to talk to people who are more in the know. She does not want to participate in a moment of collective confusion when Harry’s name is expelled from the Goblet, she wants to talk with the person who knows more about the situation than anyone else. The pattern I see with Minerva McGonagall is not an introvert, but rather an extrovert who finds inane chatter boring. 

Returning to the question of Minerva McGonagall’s actions on a rainy day, I think that Minerva, following a long day of solitary work in her office, would need to take a break by interacting with some of the castle’s other inhabitants. I think she would stop in the teacher’s office, to see if any of her colleagues were their interested in a chat. Of course, I’m not sure Minerva McGonagall would have a particularly easy time admitting to anyone that she just wanted to chat, as she prefers to be seen and think of herself as exceptionally hard-working and serious. Luckily, because she works so hard, I imagine she usually has something work-related to bring up to almost anyone sitting in the staff room.

The conversation would, I think, eventually leave work, and sort of weave into more personal areas. Probably one or two people might stop into the staff room and join the conversation, eventually suggesting they walk through the rain for a quick drink at The Three Broomsticks. There the group would stay, warming up by the fire, chatting amiably. Flitwick would talk to Minerva about books they had both recently read on their subjects or on pedagogical methods, Sprout would talk to her about the odd thing that Snape said to her the other day, and Minerva and Hagrid would talk about the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Eventually they would leave, heading back through the rain and back towards the castle. Minerva would feel, I think, energized and refreshed by the experience, the traditional marker of an extrovert.

Ultimately, I imagine Minerva to be the kind of person who often socializes, but rarely socializes outside of events that originally begin as work-related. Staff-meetings turn into dinners, a meeting to discuss a student becomes tea and conversation, patrolling the corridors between classes turn into what we would call in the Muggle world “water cooler conversation” with the other professors Minerva enjoys spending time with.

My understanding of Minerva is also a Minerva who gets lonely relatively quickly. She chooses to live in a building that houses over 100 people for most of the year. When she can’t find someone to talk with, or the castle is empty, I think she feels it. 

A hypothetical rainy day over the holidays where most of Hogwarts’s students are gone likely seems melancholy to Minerva. That same hypothetical day where her best friends and colleagues (Dumbledore, Sprout, Flitwick, Hagrid, Hooch, and possibly even Snape) gone from the castle some reason would be, I think, an extremely sad day for Minerva. Hearing the rain patter down in the large and mostly empty castle would not leave Minerva relishing in and enjoying the solitude, but rather feeling… empty. 

I’m not an ESTJ. Far from it. I’m like Ron, constantly trotting around after people and cracking terrible jokes. I begin to feel isolated and crazy when I’m alone for too long – a trait I also imagine Ron has. While I don’t think Minerva is a strong extrovert the way I view Ron, I wouldn’t classify her as an introvert either.


End file.
